Master of Arts in Intelligence Studies-Capstone Option

Learn basic research methods skills for addressing security and intelligence studies problems and issues. You focus on the detailed procedures for conducting qualitative case studies, which is the foundation for most basic security and intelligence research conducted in academic, government, and business circles. You become well versed in research planning, secondary data collection, and qualitative data analysis methods and how these methods relate to the larger field of social science research. You will also learn the analysis of competing hypotheses approach to research design. You are also introduced to basic social theory which supports security and intelligence research. The course prepares you for later learning intermediate and advanced security and intelligence methods.

RECOMMENDED AS SECOND PROGRAM COURSE. Strategic Intelligence is an examination of the current structure, function, capabilities, and contributions of individual U.S. national intelligence community members. Students appraise the intelligence cycle, including an overview of the intelligence planning, collection, exploitation, analysis, production, and dissemination phases. A review is also made of intelligence oversight structures and restrictions on U.S. national intelligence community activities as prescribed by federal law, executive and agency directives, and the intelligence oversight system.

This course is a study of intelligence collection and information gathering. It focuses on a variety of aspects related to how both the United States and foreign nations gather and process intelligence. The student will develop a comprehensive understanding of the role collection plays in the intelligence community, how various policies affect collection, and how different intelligence agencies monitor and collect intelligence.

This course provides an overview of intelligence analysis. This course first explores the nature of human thought processes: why we think the way we do, and the many analytical, perceptual, and cognitive errors we frequently make in conducting our own analysis. The course also provides the student a foundation from which to understand and conduct critical analysis. Once these are understood, students are then given a series of historical case studies to examine and analyze (INTL504 - Analytics I is NOT a prerequisite for this course.)

This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of intelligence operations. The course will focus on the intelligence resources necessary to carry out the full range of intelligence operations using the tools, techniques, and resources available to intelligence agencies.

This course is a study and analysis of international threats to security. It focuses on a variety of aspects related to both U.S. and foreign threat analysis and action, including the evolution of responses to threats, perspectives on threat action since World War II, principles of threat analysis and response, and assessments of successes and failures of such actions. The student will develop a comprehensive knowledge of threat analysis, how intelligence agencies in the U.S. assess and counter international threats in order to guard U.S. global interests and protect U.S. national security from adversaries, and how various threats affect national security policy and decision-making.

This course examines the historical roots of organized criminality. Structural models are compared for understanding emerging groups. Special attention is paid to dependencies and cooperation among ethnicities. Additionally, there will be a review of the activities associated with organized strategic aspects (i.e. profit-oriented ventures such as extortion, credit card fraud, counterfeiting, prostitution, drug trafficking, smuggling) and tactical issues (i.e. activities that support the criminal organization such as money laundering, violence, corruption, recruitment).

This course addresses the potential results from nuclear, biological, and chemical incidents or uses. Topics include public health consequences of such incidents, emergency planning and response measures in place among U.S. agencies, and emerging detection and management technologies. Existing vulnerabilities to these types of incidents and attacks will also be discussed.

This course provides the student with a firm foundation in qualitative analysis and modeling techniques, including rational choice, utility, and game theories, in order to create and test hypotheses. Students will apply basic trend analysis techniques and forecasting methods such as probability tree analysis, analytic hierarchy process, alternative scenarios/futures, Delphi technique, and the Lockwood Analytical Method for Prediction (LAMP).

Learn how to improve interagency relationships among security, defense, and intelligence agencies. This course introduces the student to theoretical and practical material for understanding the behavior of individual organizations and what can be done to make organizations work more closely together at the federal, state, and local levels. Students are introduced to theoretical material on organizational cultures; bureaucracy; social trust; individual, group, and organizational decision-making; and interagency collaboration. Emphasis is placed on explaining why organizations act the way they do and how to improve interagency coordination. Prerequisite: INTL500 Research Methods in Security and Intelligence Studies or other APUS 500-level graduate research methods course.

The course focuses on both U.S. and foreign aspects of counterintelligence, including the history and evolution of counterintelligence, the differences between passive and active CI measures, principles and processes of counterintelligence and its relationship to covert action, the ethics of counterintelligence, and the evaluation of CI successes and an estimate of the damage caused by failures. The student will develop a comprehensive knowledge of the use and practices of counterintelligence, especially in protecting homeland security and national security interests against foreign adversaries. Additionally, the collection process and the changes for the future in the infusion of CI technology will be discussed.

Examines intelligence community responses to threats to the U.S. homeland from transnational and domestic terrorists, including the employment of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Threats to the U.S. borders, including illegal immigration, narcotics smuggling, money laundering, commercial smuggling, and other organized crime activities are also covered.

This course is a study of the historical, theoretical, political, moral, and legal dynamics and implications associated with assassination, targeted killing, and related topics in modern warfare and intelligence operations. Through case studies, public law, and historical example, students will explore the reasons behind, the objectives sought, and implications of assassination, targeted killing, and other ethical dilemmas in intelligence and modern warfare.

This course analyzes the critical intelligence challenges facing the Nation through the perspective of the CIA's history. Students will examine the CIA’s record in mounting covert and paramilitary operations, providing timely intelligence to meet the urgent demands of policy makers, running sensitive penetrations of foreign governments, and establishing liaison with foreign intelligence services to enhance intelligence collection. The course will evaluate the harm caused to the CIA by recent security disclosures. Finally, the course will estimate the CIA’s success in meeting the challenges of the post-9/11 environment, especially as they relate to the expanding War on Terrorism and Homeland Security requirements.

This course examines issues of ethics and morality in the context of Intelligence. It begins with an in-depth critical analysis of the functioning and capability of contemporary U.S. Intelligence from the viewpoint of professional ethics. It then goes on to address the potential for shortcomings and gaps, and discusses firm, coherent solutions. Students will research the moral, psychological and legal issues pertaining to military decision-making in counter-terrorism, homeland security, asymmetric warfare and conventional military campaigns. Following an examination of administrative evil in different contexts and on several historical scales, the course concludes with an evaluation of prevarication and related ethical-moral choices faced in Intelligence, military and civilian life.

This course examines Signals Intelligence focusing on the underlying technology of SIGINT and its application to various military and civilian intelligence questions at both the tactical and strategic level primarily through the use of the case study approach. Focusing primarily on communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic intelligence (ELINT) this course will also address the lesser-known disciplines of MASINT, FISINT, etc. Collection platforms will be studied in relation to their inherent capabilities and application against various intelligence targets. The peculiar constraints on intelligence analysis in the SIGINT environment will be explored with the purpose of understanding the limitations of SIGINT and SIGINT’s role in the broader all-source intelligence analysis process. The course is held at the unclassified, open-source level.

This course provides an overview of HUMINT operations include mission-target analysis, operational planning, execution and evaluation, cover, security and communications, collection and reporting, and financial management. Students will be expected to demonstrate the ability to assess, articulate and defend the soundness of operational concepts, plans and budgets.

This course will provide the student with a solid foundation in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), powerful tools used for the collection, analysis and display of spatial data. The true link between GIS and intelligence studies is the ability to make informed decisions based on the data available, by assigning weight in terms of importance to the various datasets, and finally creating associative analyses to determine a course of action pertaining to a person, group, nation or region. This course will help the student to achieve this important objective. (Prerequisite: INTL500). Note: The ESRI course software will not run on computers using Macintosh [3 Semester Hours]

Students explore the contribution of imagery intelligence to the all-source effort, the advantages and disadvantages of imagery intelligence, the collection sensors' capabilities and limitations, and the interpretation process of the imaged subject.

The purpose of this course is to teach the student how the current I&W system is organized, how it is supposed to work in theory, and how it has actually worked in practice. In addition, students will examine the traditional and alternative approaches to the I&W process. Students will learn about the various types of intelligence indicators and how they fit into the process of intelligence prediction, which is an implied function of I&W. Students will also examine various historical case studies to learn about the four basic "sources of error" in I&W.

This course provides an overview of the analysis of political leaders. It explores various political psychological approaches to studying leaders to include biographies, psychoanalysis, traits, characteristics and motivations. Examples of specific political leaders are discussed throughout the course to offer the student a broad knowledge of world leaders. The course also provides students with a solid foundation from which to conduct their independent analysis of political leaders.

Students review the relationships between intelligence and national security strategy using an historical case study approach, analyzing both past and contemporary national security issues from an intelligence perspective. Students also analyze the evolving relationship between intelligence and national security strategy from the beginning of World War I to the present. THIS COURSE NOT OFFERED AT APUS, BUT MAY BE FULFILLED THROUGH TRANSFER AGREEMENTS OR A SUBSTITUTION COURSE. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR FOR DETAILS.

This course covers the role of intelligence in counterinsurgency, short-term interventions, and peace operations. Particular attention is given to how well the intelligence system has succeeded in using human intelligence in low intensity operations.

This course addresses the core elements of Information Operations (IO). Students will be introduced to the core IO disciplines referred to as Electronic Warfare (EW), Computer Network Operations (CNO), Psychological Operations (PSYOP), Military Deception (MILDEC), and Operations Security (OPSEC). Students will also be introduced to supporting IO disciplines of Information Assurance (IA), support to Civil-Military Operations (CMO), support to Public Affairs (PAO) and support to Public Diplomacy (PD).

This course will provide an overview of transnational crime and narcotics and its effects on national security, political, social, and economic development of countries around the world. The focus of this class will be the proliferation and expanding influence of organized crime groups, the increasing links among crime groups, corruption, and links to terrorism from transnational crime and narcotics. This class will examine the diverse dimensions of transnational crime and narcotics in the context of increasing globalization and the exponential impact of technology advances. Recent developments in narco-trafficking, illicit finance, corruption, the rule of law in conflict areas, the use of technology to facilitate crime, and terrorist ties to crime and narcotics will be discussed.

This course is a study of the evolution of intelligence and counterterrorism while analyzing U.S. and international policies for combating terrorism, terrorist tactics worldwide, and the scope of terrorism in the twenty-first century. The course focuses on the problems presented by terrorism to U.S. national security, suggested political solutions, and alternatives to the current counterterrorism policy.

This course will expose the students to a variety of counter-terrorism intelligence methodologies and analytic tools, and extensive academic, government, policy literature on the challenges, opportunities, and assumptions related to forecasting terrorism. The course will provide students with the analytic capability to understand the types of terrorist threats that are most likely to confront the U.S. and its allies, in addition to challenging students to evaluate the efficacy and impact of prediction-based efforts in counter-terrorism intelligence.

This course provides an overview of deceptive techniques. These techniques are often referred to as deception, propaganda, disinformation and dirty tricks. Throughout the course, students will be exposed and will analyze the use of deception in various contexts. These deceptive techniques are illustrated with a series of historical and current case studies.

Students in this course examine a top national intelligence priority, weapons of mass destruction, and some of the intelligence techniques used against them. Topics include scientific and technical intelligence and its emergence since World War II, sessions on each of the four dominant WMD (chemical warfare, biological warfare, nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles) and important issues related to monitoring and verification. Capabilities and outlook provided in the open literature will be employed to improve familiarity with issues and impact on national security strategies.

This course of study examines the history of political, tactical and strategic developments and concepts regarding geopolitical concerns regarding political and military planning and execution from the mid-20th Century through the modern era. The comparative analysis of these concepts from the applicable secondary literature will provide a stepping stone to understanding the nature of modern combined arms and joint forces warfare.

This course is a study of militant foreign ethnic/religious groups not outwardly affiliated with a sovereign state. Students address specific individuals and groups as case studies in order to draw out the implications and principles associated with actual non-state military, terrorist, events and actions. Focus is on the individuals and cells that carry out the military and terrorist plans to further insurgencies and revolutions.

This course focuses on analyzing terror groups from a political psychological perspective. In particular, the course approaches terror groups from two different political psychological perspectives, individual and group processes. Together these two perspectives provide a solid foundation from which to understand terror groups.

Explores the theory, practice, challenges and prospects for securing America against terrorist attack and protecting citizens and resources from the consequences of natural disaster, with special emphasis on how policy makers are resolving this dilemma. The primary focus is on fundamental challenges to the American political order and the strategic issues raised by the prospect of a long war against terrorism, and the dedication of significant resources for responding to catastrophic disasters which may come into conflict with the resources needed to fight a long-term War on Terrorism. The course draws heavily on current events and emerging policy solutions.

The Master’s Capstone Seminar option in Intelligence Studies includes a major research paper in lieu of the final comprehensive examination, which has no credit hours. Those who elect this graduation option may reduce their electives by three semester hours to accommodate the seminar option credit. Students starting their degree program after 1 January 2009 must take INTL699 and complete a major research paper based upon a list of available subjects. The major research paper option gives students the opportunity to apply their advanced research and analytic skills to a topic of U.S .or international security interest.